Dragon Ball(Japanese: ドラゴンボール,Hepburn: Doragon Bōru?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was initially inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. The series follows the adventures of the protagonist, Goku, from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls.

The 42 tankōbon have been adapted into two anime series produced by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996. Additionally, the studio has developed nineteen animated feature films and three television specials, as well as a third anime titled Dragon Ball GT. From 2009 to 2011 and from 2014 to present, a revised, faster-paced version of Dragon Ball Z is broadcast under the title Dragon Ball Kai, in which most of the original version's footage not featured in the manga is removed. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising based on the series leading to a large media franchise that includes films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games, numerous action figures, along with several collections of soundtracks and a large number of video games.

The manga series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The entire anime series was licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in the United States, although the series has not always been dubbed by the same studio. There have been many films of the franchise including the first live-action film adaptation being produced in 1989 in Taiwan. In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to produce an American-made live-action film titled Dragonball Evolution that received a negative reception from critics and fans; the movie was released on April 10, 2009 in the United States.

Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time. The manga's 42 volumes have sold over 156 million copies in Japan and more than 230 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling manga series in history. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest manga series ever made, with many manga artists such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail) and Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat) citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works. The anime, particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular in various countries and was arguably one of the most influential in boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture.

Plot summary

The series begins with a monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl named Bulma, whom he accompanies to find the seven Dragon Balls (ドラゴンボール,Doragon Bōru?), which summon the dragon Shenlong to grant the user one wish. The journey leads them to the desert bandit Yamcha, who later becomes an ally; Chi-Chi, whom Goku unknowingly agrees to marry; and Pilaf, an impish man who seeks the Dragon Balls to fulfill his desire to rule the world. Goku then undergoes rigorous training regimes under the martial arts master Kame-Sen'nin in order to fight in the Tenkaichi Budōkai (天下一武道会?, "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament"). A monk named Kuririn becomes his training partner and rival, but they soon become best friends. After the tournament, Goku searches for the Dragon Ball his Grandfather left him and almost single-handedly defeats the Red Ribbon Army and their hired assassin Taopaipai. Thereafter Goku reunites with his friends to defeat the fortuneteller Baba Uranai's fighters and have her locate the last Dragon Ball to revive a friend killed by Taopaipai.

At the Tenkaichi Budōkai three years later Goku and his allies oppose Kame-Sen'nin's rival and Taopaipai's brother, Tsuru-Sen'nin, and his students Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Kuririn is killed after the tournament and Goku tracks down and is defeated by his killer, Piccolo Daimao. The samurai Yajirobe takes Goku to the hermit Karin, where he receives healing and a power boost. Meanwhile Piccolo fights Kame-Sen'nin and Chaozu, leading to both their deaths, and uses the Dragon Balls to regain his youth before destroying Shenlong. Goku then kills Piccolo Daimao, who, just before dying, spawns his son/reincarnation Piccolo. Karin then directs Goku to Kami-sama, the original creator of the Dragon Balls, to restore Shenlong and revive his slain friends. Goku trains under Kami for the next three years, once again reuniting with his friends at the Tenkaichi Budōkai, where he narrowly wins against Piccolo before leaving with Chi-Chi to keep his promise to marry her.

Five years later, Goku is a young adult and father to his son Gohan, when Raditz arrives on Earth, identifies Goku as his younger brother 'Kakarrot' and reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans (サイヤ人,Saiya-jin?), who sent Goku to conquer Earth for them, until he suffered a severe head injury and lost all memory of his mission. Goku refuses to continue the mission, sides with Piccolo, and sacrifices his life to defeat Raditz. In the afterlife Goku trains under the North Kaiō until he is revived by the Dragon Balls to save the Earth from the invading Nappa and Vegeta. In the battle Yamcha, Chaozu, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo are killed, and the Dragon Balls cease to exist. Kuririn and the galactic tyrant Freeza learn of another set of Dragon Balls on planet Namek (ナメック星,Namekku-sei?), whereupon Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn search for them to revive their friends and subsequently the Earth's Dragon Balls, leading to several battles with Freeza's minions and Vegeta, the latter standing alongside the heroes to fight the Ginyu Force, a team of mercenaries. The long battle with Freeza himself comes to a close when Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人,Sūpā Saiya-jin?) of legends and defeats him.

A group of Androids(人造人間,Jinzōningen?, "Artificial Humans") created by a member of the former Red Ribbon Army, Doctor Gero, appear three years later, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell also emerges and, after absorbing two of the Androids to achieve his "perfect form," holds his own fighting tournament to challenge the protagonists. After Goku sacrifices his own life to no avail, Gohan avenges his father by defeating Cell. Seven years later, Goku, briefly revived for one day, and his allies are drawn into a fight against Majin Boo. After numerous battles, including destruction and re-creation of the Earth, Goku destroys Boo with a Genki-Dama (a sphere of pure energy drawn from all intelligent beings on Earth) and wishes for him to be reincarnated as a "good person." Ten years later, at another Tenkaichi Budōkai, Goku meets Boo's human reincarnation, Oob. Leaving their match unfinished, Goku departs with Oob to train him to be Earth's new guardian.

Production

Akira Toriyama loosely modeled Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West;[2][3] but also redeveloped it from his 1983 one-shot manga Dragon Boy.[3] He has said that the fighting was influenced from movies by famous martial arts actor Jackie Chan,[4][5] as he wanted to create a story with the basic theme of Journey to the West, but with "a little kung fu."[6] Since it was serialized in a shōnen magazine, he added the idea of the Dragon Balls to give it a game-like activity of gathering something, without thinking of what the characters would wish for.[6] With Goku being Sun Wukong, Bulma as Xuanzang, Oolong as Zhu Bajie and Yamcha being Sha Wujing, he originally thought it would last about a year or end once the Dragon Balls were collected.[5][7] Toriyama stated that although the stories are purposefully easy to understand, he specifically aimed Dragon Ball at readers older than those of his previous serial Dr. Slump.[8] He also wanted to break from the Western influences common in Dr. Slump, deliberately going for Chinese scenery, referencing Chinese buildings and photographs of China his wife had bought.[9] The island where the Tenkaichi Budōkai (天下一武道会?, "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament", renamed "World Martial Arts Tournament" in Funimation's dub) is held is modeled after Bali, which he, his wife and assistant visited in mid-1985, and for the area around Bobbidi's spaceship he consulted photos of Africa.[9]

It was when the Tenkaichi Budōkai martial arts tournament began that Dragon Ball truly became popular, having recalled the races and tournaments in Dr. Slump.[5] Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to win the tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while planning an eventual victory. He said that Muscle Tower in the Red Ribbon Army storyline was inspired by the video game Spartan X, in which enemies tended to appear very fast. He then created Piccolo Daimao as a truly evil villain, and as a result called that arc the most interesting to draw.[5] Once Goku and company had become the strongest on Earth, they turned to extraterrestrial opponents including the Saiyans. Freeza, who forcibly took over planets to resell them, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estatespeculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."[5] Finding the escalating enemies difficult, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series. He added time travel next, but said he had a hard time with it, only thinking of what to do that week and having to discuss it with his second editor Yu Kondo.[5] After Cell's death, Toriyama intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but felt the character was not suited for the role and changed his mind.[5]

The Earth of Dragon Ball as published in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide.

Going against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful characters with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku.[10] When creating a character, his process is to first come up with their face and body type, and then the clothes while thinking of the world they inhabit and if the fighters can move around in them.[11] Toriyama said that he did not plan the details of the story, resulting in strange occurrences and discrepancies later in the series, including changing the colors of the characters mid-story and few characters having screen tone because he found it difficult to use.[4][6][7][11]

Toriyama later explained the he had Goku grow up as a means to make drawing fight scenes easier, even though his first editor Kazuhiko Torishima was initially against it because it was rare to have the main character of a manga series change drastically.[12] When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing residents and destroyed buildings. While he personally dislikes the idea of naming fighting techniques, Torishima at the time felt it would be better, so Toriyama proceeded to create names for all of the techniques, except for the series' signature Kamehameha(かめはめ波?, lit. "Kamehame Wave") which his wife came up with when he was indecisive about what it should be called.[9] In order to advance the story quickly by having characters travel without inconvenience, he created the flying cloud Kinto-un(筋斗雲?, lit. "Somersault Cloud", renamed "Nimbus" in Funimation's dub), then gave most fighters the flying technique Bukū-jutsu(舞空術?, lit. "Air Dance Technique"), and finally granted Goku the teleportation ability Shunkan Idō(瞬間移動?, lit. "Instant Teleport", renamed "Instant Transmission" in Funimation's dub).[9] Once he came up with the idea of the Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人,Sūpā Saiya-jin?), he felt the only way to show Goku's massive power up was to have him transform.[11] Initially he was concerned that the facial expression looked like that of a villain, but felt since the transformation was brought about by anger it was acceptable.[11] While talking to his long-time friend and fellow manga artist Masakazu Katsura about how there was nothing stronger than a Super Saiyan, Katsura suggested having two characters "fuse" together, leading to the creation of the Fusion (フュージョン,Fyūjon?) technique.[13][14] Since the completion of Dragon Ball, Toriyama has continued to add to its story, mostly background information on its universe, through guidebooks published by Shueisha.

During the second half of the series, Toriyama has said that he had become more interested in coming up with the story than actually drawing it, and that the battles became more intense with him simplifying the lines.[4] He also said he would get letters from readers complaining that the art had become "too square", so he intentionally made it more so.[4] In 2013, he stated that because Dragon Ball is an action manga the most important aspect is the sense of speed, so he didn't draw very elaborate, going so far as to suggest one could say that he wasn't interested in the art.[12] He also once said that his goal for the series was to tell an "unconventional and contradictory" story.[10] In 2013, commenting on Dragon Ball's global success, Toriyama said, "Frankly, I don't quite understand why it happened. While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy.", "The role of my manga is to be a work of entertainment through and through. I dare say I don't care even if [my works] have left nothing behind, as long as they have entertained their readers."[15]

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from November 20, 1984 to May 23, 1995, when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing. The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from September 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995.[16][17][18] In 2002, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump run. The February 2013 issue of V Jump, which was released in December 2012, announced that parts of the manga will be fully colored and re-released in 2013.[19] Three volumes comprising the "Saiyan arc" (which begins with chapter 195 of the original series) were released on February 4, 2013, and five volumes of the "Freeza arc" were released on April 4, 2013.

The Dragon Ball manga is licensed for release in English in North America by Viz Media. Viz released volumes 17 through 42 (chapters 195 through 519) under the title "Dragon Ball Z" to mimic the name of the anime series adapted from those volumes, feeling it would reduce the potential for confusion by its readers. They initially released both series chapter by chapter in a monthly comic book format starting in 1998, and later began collecting them in graphic novels in 2000.[20] In 2000, while releasing Dragon Ball in the monthly format, Viz began to censor the series in response to complaints by parents.[21][22] They argued that when there are parental complaints, major chain stores stop selling the series, so to keep wide distribution, they made some "concessions".[22] They assured that all changes were done with approval by Toriyama and Shueisha, with Toriyama making suggestions himself: such as to obscure Goku's genitals with objects, rather than "neuter him".[22] A fan petition that garnered over 10,000 signatures was created, and a year later, Viz announced they would stop censoring the series and instead increased its "rating" to 13 and up, and reprinted the first 3 graphic novels.[21][23]

"Dragon Ball Z", from Trunk's appearance to chapter 226, was published in Viz's monthly magazine Shonen Jump from its debut issue in January 2003 to April 2005. Later, the first 10 collected volumes of both series were re-released from March to May 2003 under their "Shonen Jump" imprint, with Dragon Ball being completed on August 3, 2004 and Dragon Ball Z finishing on June 6, 2006.[24][25] However, when releasing the last few volumes of Dragon Ball Z, the company began to censor the series again; translating the sound effects of gunshots to "zap" and changing the few sexual references.[23] In June 2008, Viz began re-releasing the two series in a wideban format called "Viz Big Edition," which collects three individual volumes into a single large volume.[26][27] These editions are on higher quality paper and include some of the original Weekly Shōnen Jump color pages, however, they include new censorship not in the 2003 releases. On November 3, 2008, the first volumes of both series were released in hardcover "Collector's Editions."[28][29] Viz began releasing new 3-in-1 volumes of Dragon Ball, similar to their "Viz Big Edition", using the Japanese kanzenban covers; with volume one released on June 4, 2013.[30] They serialized chapter 195 to 245 of the new fully colored version of the manga in their digital anthology Weekly Shonen Jump from February 2013 to February 2014.[31] They began publishing Dragon Ball Full Color Edition into large printed volumes on February 4, 2014.[32]

The manga has also been licensed in other English-speaking countries, distributed in the same Viz format of separating it into Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. The United Kingdom's release of the manga has been through different distributors. From August 2005 to November 2007, Gollancz Manga an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group released the 16 volumes of Dragon Ball and the first 4 of Dragon Ball Z.[33][34] Viz would release the books after Gollancz and expand to digital sales on the Nook in August 2013.[35] In Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment has released all 16 volumes of the Dragon Ball manga and the 9 "Viz Big" volumes of Dragon Ball Z.[36][37][38][39]

Spin-offs and crossovers

Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin, that became a self-parody of Dragon Ball. First appearing in August 1999, the eight chapter series was released sporadically in Weekly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Shōnen Jump until it was completed in 2005. These chapters were compiled into one kanzenban volume for release on April 4, 2005.[40] In 2006, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (or Kochikame), a special manga titled Super Kochikame(超こち亀,Chō Kochikame?) was released on September 15.[41] It included characters from the series appearing in special crossover chapters of other well-known manga. The chapter "This is the Police Station in front of Dragon Park on Planet Namek" (こちらナメック星ドラゴン公園前派出所,Kochira Namekku-sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo?) was a Dragon Ball crossover by Toriyama and Kochikame author Osamu Akimoto. That same year, Toriyama teamed up with Eiichiro Oda to create a single crossover chapter of Dragon Ball and One Piece. Entitled Cross Epoch, the chapter was published in the December 25, 2006 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump and the April 2011 issue of English Shonen Jump.[42] The final chapter of Toriyama's 2013 manga series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman revealed that it is set before Dragon Ball, with several characters making appearances.[43]Jaco's collected volumes contain a bonus Dragon Ball chapter depicting Goku's mother. Jaco and the bonus chapter were both published in Viz's digital English Weekly Shonen Jump.[44]

A colored spin-off manga titled Dragon Ball SD and written by Naho Ōishi has been published in Shueisha's Saikyō Jump magazine since its debut issue released in December 2010.[45] The manga is a condensed retelling of Goku's various adventures as a child, with many details changed, in a super deformed art style, hence the title.[46] It has been collected into three volumes, with the first being released on April 4, 2013, the second on April 4, 2014, and the third on December 4, 2014.[47][48][49]

Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock is a three-chapter manga, once again penned by Naho Ōishi, that was published in the monthly magazine V Jump from August and October 2011.[50] This manga is a sequel to the 1990 TV special Bardock – The Father of Goku with some key details changed. As the title indicates the manga's story revolves around Bardock, Goku's father, who in this special is featured in a "what-if" scenario in which he did not die at the hands of Freeza and gets to fight his enemy as a Super Saiyan.

Anime series

Dragon Ball

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the first 194 manga chapters, also titled Dragon Ball. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 12, 1989, lasting 153 episodes.[3]

Dragon Ball Z

Instead of continuing the anime as Dragon Ball, Toei Animation decided to carry on with their adaptation under a new name and asked Akira Toriyama to come up with the title. Dragon Ball Z(ドラゴンボールZ(ゼット),Doragon Bōru Zetto?, commonly abbreviated as DBZ) picks up five years after the first series left off and adapts the final 325 chapters of the manga. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.[3]

Dragon Ball GT

Dragon Ball GT(ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー),Doragon Bōru Jī Tī?, G(rand) T(ouring)[51]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 2, 1996 and ran until November 19, 1997 for 64 episodes.[3] Unlike the first two anime series, it is not based on Akira Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga,[52] being created by Toei Animation as a sequel to the series or as Toriyama called it, a "side story of the original Dragon Ball".[51] Toriyama only designed the main cast and some machines, and came up with the title.

Dragon Ball Kai

In February 2009, Toei Animation announced that it would begin broadcasting a revised version of Dragon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebrations. The series premiered on Fuji TV in Japan on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai(ドラゴンボール改,Doragon Bōru Kai?, lit. "Dragon Ball Revised"), with the episodes remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, and a rerecording of the vocal tracks by most of the original cast.[53][54] The footage was also re-edited to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster-moving story, and damaged frames removed.[55] As such, it is a new version of Dragon Ball Z created from the original footage. The majority of the international versions, including Funimation Entertainment's English dub, are titled Dragon Ball Z Kai.[56][57]

Films

Anime

Eighteen animated theatrical films based on the Dragon Ball series have been released in Japan. The first three films are based on the original Dragon Ball anime series. The remaining films include fourteen Dragon Ball Z films and one tenth anniversary special (also based on the first anime series). However, the films are generally either alternate re-tellings of certain story arcs or extra side-stories that do not correlate with the same timeline as the series. The exception being Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F released in 2013 and 2015 respectively, these films being the first to have original creator Akira Toriyama deeply involved in their production.[58][59]

TV Specials and other animations

Three television specials based on the series were aired on Fuji TV in Japan. The first, The One True Final Battle ~The Z Warrior Who Challenged Freeza -- Son Goku's Father~, renamed Bardock – The Father of Goku by Funimation, was shown on October 17, 1990. The second special, The Hopeless Resistance!! Gohan and Trunks -- The Two Remaining Super Warriors, renamed The History of Trunks by Funimation, is based on a special chapter of the original manga and aired on March 24, 1993. Goku Side Story! The Four Star Ball is a Badge of Courage, renamed A Hero's Legacy by Funimation, aired on March 26, 1997. A two-part hour-long crossover special between Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Toriko, referred to as Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special!! aired on April 7, 2013.[63]

Soundtracks

Myriad soundtracks were released in the anime, movies and the games. The music for the first two anime Dragon Ball and Z and its films was composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi, while the music from GT was composed by Akihito Tokunaga and the music from Kai was composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Norihito Sumitomo. For the first anime, the soundtracks released were Dragon Ball: Music Collection in 1985 and Dragon Ball: Complete Song Collection in 1991, although they were reissued in 2007 and 2003, respectively.[75] For the second anime, the soundtrack series released were Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection Series. It was produced and released by Columbia Records of Japan from July 21, 1989 to March 20, 1996 the show's entire lifespan. On September 20, 2006 Columbia re-released the Hit Song Collection on their Animex 1300 series.[76][77] Other CDs released are compilations, video games and films soundtracks as well as music from the English versions.[78]

Companion books

Cover of Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations

There have been numerous companion books to the Dragon Ball franchise. Chief among these are the Daizenshuu(大全集?) series, comprising seven hardback main volumes and three supplemental softcover volumes, covering the manga and the first two anime series and their theatrical films. The first of these, Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations (Daizenshuu volume 1), first published in Japan in 1995, is the only one that was released in English, being printed in 2008 by Viz Media.[79] It contains all 264 colored illustrations Akira Toriyama drew for the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazines' covers, bonus giveaways and specials, and all the covers for the 42 tankōbon. It also includes an interview with Toriyama on his work process. The remainder have never been released in English, and all are now out of print in Japan. From February 4 to May 9, 2013, condensed versions of the Daizenshuu with some updated information were released as the four-volume Chōzenshū(超全集?) series.[19] For Dragon Ball GT, the Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files were released in May and December 1997 by Shueisha's Jump Comics Selection imprint. They include series information, illustration galleries, behind-the-scenes information, and more. They were out of print for many years, but were re-released in April 2006 (accompanying the Japanese DVD release of Dragon Ball GT) and this edition is still in print.[80][81]

Coinciding with the 34-volume kanzenban re-release of the manga, and the release of the entire series on DVD for the first time in Japan, four new guidebooks were released in 2003 and 2004. Dragon Ball Landmark and Dragon Ball Forever cover the manga, using volume numbers for story points that reference the kanzenban release,[82][83] while Dragon Ball: Tenkaichi Densetsu(ドラゴンボール 天下一伝説?) and Dragon Ball Z: Son Goku Densetsu(ドラゴンボールZ 孫悟空伝説?) cover the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime, respectively.[84][85] Much of the material in these books is reused from the earlier Daizenshuu volumes, but they include new textual material including substantial interviews with the creator, cast and production staff of the series. Son Goku Densetsu in particular showcases previously-unpublished design sketches of Goku's father Bardock, drawn by character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru prior to creator Akira Toriyama's revisions that resulted in the final version.

Following the release of Dragon Ball Kai in Japan, four new guidebooks were released: the two-volume Dragon Ball: Super Exciting Guide(ドラゴンボール 超エキサイティングガイド?) in 2009, covering the manga,[86][87] and two-volume Dragon Ball: Extreme Battle Collection(ドラゴンボール 極限バトルコレクション?) in 2010, covering the anime series.[88][89] Despite the TV series airing during this time being Kai, the Extreme Battle Collection books reference the earlier Z series in content and episode numbers. These books also include new question-and-answer sessions with Akira Toriyama, revealing a few new details about the world and characters of the series. 2010 also saw the release of a new artbook, Dragon Ball: Anime Illustrations Guide - The Golden Warrior(ドラゴンボール アニメイラスト集 「黄金の戦士」?); a sort of anime-counterpart to the manga-oriented Complete Illustrations, it showcases anime-original illustrations and includes interviews with the three principal character designers for the anime. Each of the Japanese "Dragon Box" DVD releases of the series and movies, which were released from 2003 to 2006, as well as the Blu-ray boxed sets of Dragon Ball Kai, released 2009 to 2011, come with a Dragon Book guide that contains details about the content therein. Each also contains a new interview with a member of the cast or staff of the series. These books have been reproduced textually for Funimation's release of the Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box sets from 2009 to 2011.

Collectible cards

Collectible cards based on the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT series have been released by Bandai. These cards feature various scenes from the manga and anime stills, plus exclusive artwork from all three series. Bandai released the first set in the United States in July 2008.[90]

Reception

Manga

Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga series of all time, and it continues to enjoy high readership today. By 2000, more than 126 million copies of its tankōbon volumes had been sold in Japan alone.[91] By 2012, this number had grown to pass 156 million in Japan and 230 million worldwide, making it the second best-selling Weekly Shōnen Jump manga of all time.[92][93]Dragon Ball is credited as one of the main reasons for the "Golden Age of Jump", the period between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s when manga circulation was at its highest.[94][95] For the 10th anniversary of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006, Japanese fans voted Dragon Ball the third greatest manga of all time.[96]

In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 among 1,000 people, Son Goku, the main character of the franchise, ranked first place as the "Strongest Manga Character of All Time."[97] Goku's journey and his ever growing strength resulted in the character winning "the admiration of young boys everywhere".[2] Manga artists, such as One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, have stated that Goku inspired their series' main protagonists as well as series structure.[98][99]

Manga critic Jason Thompson stated in 2011 that "Dragon Ball is by far the most influential shonen manga of the last 30 years, and today, almost every Shonen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways."[100] He says the series "turns from a gag/adventure manga to an nearly-pure fighting manga",[100] and its basic formula of "lots of martial arts, lots of training sequences, a few jokes" became the model for other shōnen series, such as Naruto.[101] Thompson also called Toriyama's art influential and cited it as a reason for the series' popularity.[100] James S. Yadao, author of The Rough Guide to Manga, claims that the first several chapters of Dragon Ball "play out much like Saiyuki with Dr. Slump-like humour built in" and that Dr. Slump, Toriyama's previous manga, has a clear early influence on the series.[102] He feels the series "established its unique identity" after the first occasion when Goku's group disbands and he trains under Kame-sen'nin, when the story develops "a far more action-packed, sinister tone" with "wilder" battles with aerial and spiritual elements and an increased death count, while humor still makes an occasional appearance.[102] Yadao claims that an art shift occurs when the characters "lose the rounded, innocent look that he established in Dr. Slump and gain sharper angles that leap off the page with their energy and intensity."[103]

Animerica felt the series had "worldwide appeal", using dramatic pacing and over-the-top martial arts action to "maintain tension levels and keep a crippler crossface hold on the audience's attention spans".[104] In Little Boy: The Art of Japan's Exploding Subculture, Takashi Murakami commented that Dragon Ball's "never-ending cyclical narrative moves forward plausibly, seamlessly, and with great finesse."[91] Ridwan Khan from Animefringe.com commented that the manga had a "chubby" art style, but as the series continued the characters got more refined, leaner, and more muscular. Khan prefers the manga over the slow pacing of the anime counterparts.[105] Allen Divers of Anime News Network praised the story and humor of the manga as being very good at conveying all of the characters' personalities. Divers also called Viz's translation one of the best of all the English editions of the series due to its faithfulness to the original Japanese.[106] D. Aviva Rothschild of Rationalmagic.com remarked the first manga volume as "a superior humor title". They praised Goku's innocence and Bulma's insistence as one of the funniest parts of the series.[107]

The content of the manga has been controversial in United States. In November 1999, Toys "R" Us removed Viz's Dragon Ball from their stores nationwide when a Dallas parent complained the series had "borderline soft porn" after he bought them for his four-year-old son.[108] Commenting on the issue, Susan J. Napier explained it as a difference in culture.[108] After the ban, Viz reluctantly began to censor the series to keep wide distribution.[22] However in 2001, after releasing three volumes censored, Viz announced Dragon Ball would be uncensored and reprinted due to fan reactions.[23] In October 2009, Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland banned the Dragon Ball manga from their school district because it "depicts nudity, sexual contact between children and sexual innuendo among adults and children."[108]

Anime

The anime adaptations have also been very well-received and are better known in the Western world than the manga, with Anime News Network saying "Few anime series have mainstreamed it the way Dragon Ball Z has. To a certain generation of television consumers its characters are as well known as any in the animated realm, and for many it was the first step into the wilderness of anime fandom."[109] In 2000, satellite TV channel Animax together with Brutus, a men's lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan's largest video rental chain, conducted a poll among 200,000 fans on the top anime series, with Dragon Ball coming in fourth.[110]TV Asahi conducted two polls in 2005 on the Top 100 Anime, Dragon Ball came in second in the nation-wide survey conducted with multiple age-groups and in third in the online poll.[111][112] On several occasions the Dragon Ball anime has topped Japan's DVD sales.[113][114]

Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network summed up Dragon Ball as "an action-packed tale told with rare humor and something even rarer—a genuine sense of adventure."[115] Both Kimlinger and colleague Theron Martin noted Funimation's reputation for drastic alterations of the script, but praised the dub.[115][116] However, some critics and most fans of the Japanese version have been more critical with Funimation's English dub and script of Dragon Ball Z over the years. Jeffrey Harris IGN criticized the voices including how Freeza's appearance combined with the feminine English voice left fans confused about Freeza's gender.[117] Carlos Ross of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the series' characters to be different from stereotypical stock characters and noted that they undergo much more development.[118] Despite praising Dragon Ball Z for its cast of characters, they criticized it for having long and repetitive fights.[119]

Dragon Ball Z is well-known, and often criticized, for its long, repetitive, dragged-out fights that span several episodes, with Martin commenting "DBZ practically turned drawing out fights into an art form."[120] However, Jason Thompson of io9 explained that this comes from the fact that the anime was being created alongside the manga.[121]Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series,[122] and was also listed as the 50th greatest cartoon in Wizard magazine's Top 100 Greatest Cartoons list.[123] Harris commented that Dragon Ball GT "is downright repellent", mentioning that the material and characters had lost their novelty and fun. He also criticized the GT character designs of Trunks and Vegeta as being goofy.[117] Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network also gave negative comments about GT, mentioning that the fights from the series were "a very simple childish exercise" and that many other anime were superior. The plot of Dragon Ball GT has also been criticized for giving a formula that was already used in its predecessors.[124]

The first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 11.3, ahead of One Piece and behind Crayon Shin-chan.[125] Although following episodes had lower ratings, Kai was among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan for most of its run.[126][127]